Author Archives: Joel D. Hirst

About Joel D. Hirst

Joel D. Hirst is a novelist and a playwright. His most recently released work is "Dreams of the Defeated: A Play in Two Acts" about a political prisoner in a dystopian regime. His novels include "I, Charles, From the Camps" about the life of a young man in the African camps and "Lords of Misrule" about the making and unmaking of a jihadist in the Sahara. "The Lieutenant of San Porfirio" and its sequel "The Burning of San Porfirio" are about the rise and fall of socialist Venezuela (with magic).

To Talk of Many Things… (Vol. #5 – Unalienable Rights and Nouveau Marxists)

Posted on July 17, 2019

“But wait a bit,” the Oysters cried, “Before we have our chat; For some of us are out of breath, And all of us are fat!” There is a case to be made by philosophers and historians that the greatest … Continue reading →

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Visit Bisbee

Posted on July 15, 2019

You might want to take a trip this summer; and you might want in doing so to visit the lost places in our own lands. So you grab the old road atlas that your dad left up in the attic … Continue reading →

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Frankenstein

Posted on July 13, 2019

This book surprised me. It was not at all what I thought it would be. We are confronted with Frankenstein everywhere in popular mythology; but it is a bastardized version of what Shelley tried to give us, bereft of meaning … Continue reading →

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“Auxilio…” Help – The Cry of Venezuela

Posted on July 5, 2019

“Auxilio…” Help me. The word was barely audible, a whisper in a crowded courtroom. The only word uttered by the defendant; his last word before he fell. Captain Rafael Acosta, arrested by the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela for … Continue reading →

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My View From the “Back Row”…

Posted on July 4, 2019

“It is often revealing, and fun—for the same reason I think that I love to watch Bobo hunting Bigfoot (spoiler alert, in this metaphor I think I’m Bigfoot. And yes, I do exist. I know, takes some of the fun … Continue reading →

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Africa’s Turn?

Posted on July 4, 2019

It was to be Africa’s turn. That was the promise and the hope. The great forces that converged in the last half of the 20th century to give the world the most remarkable surge into prosperity known to man would … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, International Affairs, philosophy, Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Beware the Dreams of Other Men – A Poem

Posted on June 26, 2019

Beware the dreams of other men, the hopes of those not shared; Hark not to visions of one’s past ‘rise up from those who dared; Look only now within thyself, and not to search beyond; Seek out the truth that … Continue reading →

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